Trust Me Again
by Harmonykat
Summary: A oneshot after Elizabeth and Will leave Tia Dalma's at the end of Dead Man's Chest.


**Disclaimer: If I owned Orlando Bloom, Johnny Depp, or either of the characters they portray, I would never, ever leave the house unless we were feeling particularly… _curious._ **

**A/N: This story is dedicated with an immense amount of irritation to all of the J/E shippers who have polluted the site with their delusions.**

"Trust Me Again"

By Katharine Ayn Sintonia

Elizabeth sat huddled under a blanket, hardly aware that the longboats had left Tia Dalma's now quiet shack. She was silent, sitting in the middle of a boat shared with Will and Gibbs, the latter rowing. Her guilt weighed heavily upon her.

The night wind was chilly, and she shivered in a slight breeze. She saw Will shake his head before he turned around and pulled the blanket closer around her. "You don't want to catch cold," he murmured.

She bit her lower lip, a fresh wave of shame pouring over her. She had a myriad of reasons for kissing Jack, very few of them dealing with her own shameful curiosity. She hadn't meant for Will to see. Will's faith in her had been shattered, and she couldn't really find it in her to blame him. He'd seen her wrapping herself around Jack. _He didn't see me play Brutus,_ she thought bitterly. _I deserve his trust less than he thinks._

"Will?" she asked quietly, refusing to let her voice quaver.

"Don't worry," he replied. "We'll bring him back." His voice held an odd certainty to it. He couldn't forget those last moments at the Pearl anymore than she could.

She couldn't help but roll her eyes. Will's sense of honour was deeply at play here, and in that moment she could not have found it more loathsome. She deeply wished that he would lose some of his self-control and react like she knew he wanted to. All evidence to the contrary, Will wasn't all pirate yet. From what he'd told her about the events on the Flying Dutchman, she knew that he could scheme and plot. Neither of them would hesitate at killing for a cause—but she knew that she was colder than him. She had been ruthless; she'd done what needed done. She'd seen Jack's weakness and exploited it; it was unfortunate that Will had seen her act.

_What was I supposed to do?_ she thought with the slightest twinge of anger. _Jack was doomed. He either died on that ship or dragged us all down with him! I saved your life by ending his._ She thought that last with a grimace. _How can I tell someone like Will that I love him so much I'd kill for him? _She could just imagine _that_ conversation.

"_William, darling, I'm sorry you think I'm as loose as a Tortugan whore, but I promise that the only reason I kissed Jack was so that I could shackle him to his own ship and let him die whist we escape and live not as happily ever after as I was originally hoping."_

Letting out a noise of disgust with herself, William, and the world in general, she turned to look at the lagoon. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Will looking back at her, but she returned to her musings.

It surprised her at how easy it had been to send Jack to his death. The full weight of what she was doing hadn't hit until she'd met his eyes. He'd been tricked, and he knew it well. There had been a strange respect in his eyes when he'd whispered that last "Pirates.".

Maybe he'd loved her. Truth be told, she thoroughly doubted that. Jack had loved his Pearl and his sea. All he felt for her was…"Curiosity," she whispered aloud.

Will turned around and looked at her. "Did you say something, Elizabeth?"

She shook her head, but Will scooted closer to her. "What is it?"

She hated that tears filled her eyes almost as much as she hated that wounded but determined look in Will's eyes. "I was just thinking to myself," she said haltingly.

He nodded, but his gaze stayed trained on her. "About what?" he asked, trying and failing to keep the accusatory tone from his voice.

She looked back at him, agonised by the deep pain she saw in him. "If I tell you the truth, will you listen?"

He seemed rather taken aback. "Because if you won't listen to me, I won't waste my breath saying what I wish to say." _Trust me again,_ she pleaded silently.

He nodded warily. "Is this about Jack?" he asked in an almost whisper.

She shrugged. "I suppose it is." She took a halting breath. "I kissed him. I kissed Jack, and I know you saw it." She met his eyes. "That's why you don't trust me. You've barely touched me since. Truth be told, I don't deserve your trust in the slightest, but not because I kissed Jack. I did far worse than that." She looked away and whispered, "I killed him, Will."

"What?" Will was taken aback. "You said he 'elected to stay behind'."

She shrugged. "Aye, I _said_ that. I suppose technically speaking, _I_ elected for him to stay behind."

Will was wary. "How so?"

She was breathing heavily. How could she tell him that she was a ruthless killer? "I…used him. I knew he felt something for me. He told me some time ago that I was 'curious', and that I would want him. I would want to let go of my honour and decency and be a pirate like him. In return I told him that he would want to show that he was indeed a good man." Her voice lowered and her words fell heavily. "When he returned to the Pearl, I knew that if he left with us, his curse would follow us all, and the kraken wouldn't rest until it'd dragged us all down to the depths. I knew that he would never willingly go down with his ship, as every _good_ captain should, and I had the means to make him. He trusted me. He let his guard down, and I kissed him." She took another deep breath. Telling this was absolutely heart-rending. "He was…distracted, and I pushed him back, feigning at passion. I…I shackled him to the mast, and I left him to die. Davy Jones wanted him, not us. I made a choice, Will. There wasn't another option."

"Well then." He heaved a deep breath in turn. "That certainly changes things." Realisation dawned. "You _killed _him?"

"It was the only way!" she burst out desperately. "Couldn't you see that? We'd all have died! It was to save us…to save you!"

Will's expression lifted for the scarcest moment. "To _save _me?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed, obviously frustrated. "Maybe I was curious, and maybe I had a few moments of doubt, but I would never have found that chest if I didn't love you!" Ignoring Will's measuring gaze, she plowed on. "Everything I've done, I did with us in mind! I negotiated the Letters of Marque from Beckett whilst holding a gun to his head, I've cut down members of Davy Jones's crew, and yes, I kissed—"

She was cut off when Will seized her and kissed her almost ferociously. He was determined to wipe any memory of Jack's kiss from her brain—she was _his_ Elizabeth; Jack be damned. Will's honour lost out, and he kept her arms trapped behind her while he ravished her with his lips. Eventually releasing her from his plundering embrace, he put a finger to her smiling lips.

A bit breathlessly, she looked at him with a confused grin. "You forget," he murmured seductively. "I'm a pirate."


End file.
